In the next blogposts I would like to take you with me through Amsterdam with its beautiful canals, its exciting inhabitants and their urban ideas. And of course (as wasn’t to be expected differently) I will show you in the next weeks many small cafes and nice shops. Because this time I had a whole week in Amsterdam I finally had time to live in the day and visit all the places I have found on my researches before. For this reason, I will not just limit myself to one Amsterdam guide, there will be a entire series about the dutch city. At the end of it, I will give you a summary of all the tips – like I did for Stockholm last year. And yes of course again with a practical map an the end, where you can find all the cafes, shops and other places!
The West of Amsterdam is making the beginning. This district is not so full of beautiful canals and (still) not as hip as the scene of De Pijp, but even there are even some places that I would like to recommend to you. So the first tip: the café Lot Sixty One in the Kinkerstraat. Next to the café part it’s a coffee roastery.
For me at this place it was the best to drink a flat white and alternately observe how the specialty coffee is roasted and outside the window how the people run by. A few meters down the street, where the Lot Sixty One is located, also are the food halls. This area is a few large urban halls with many restaurants and stalls where you can go through.
Lot Sixty One
Kinkerstraat 112
1053 ED Amsterdam
After being strengthened by coffee and delicious cake you can go to my next tip, the store named. Just two streets away is the most beautiful plant shop located, I’ve ever seen. It’s a green paradise full of houseplants, macrame (so called the knotted systems of twine hanging from plants), pots and inspiring books. If you are lucky enough to visit the shop, which is more appropriate to be called “Wildernis”, the sun shines so beautifully that the room is even more overwhelming. You can really enjoy the overpowering also in wilderness with a coffee or tea and a piece of cake.
Bilderdijkstraat 165F
1053 KP Amsterdam
The coffee from the roastery of Lot Sixty One is also available in a co-working space near the Vondelpark. The mix of workstations, shops, and coffee bar here at the BounceSpace is not as nice as the café itself, but for a delicious coffee to go I can really recommend this coffee stop. With such a coffee in the hand, a subsequent walk through the second largest park in Amsterdam makes even with drizzle a bit of fun.
The last tip I want to give you for the West of Amsterdam is located at the other end of the Vonderlpark in a very inconspicuous area. The “Caffènation” is well suited for a quiet afternoon with good coffee in a cozy living room atmosphere. The coffee here comes from the “Caffènation” roastery from Antwerp. However also the non-coffee fans among you will have their joy at this spot, because on the menu are many different cocoa varieties. So if you are looking for freshly-melted chocolate in warm milk (also in vegan variants) you are exactly right here. The guests are always a colorful mixture of Amsterdam residents. Just as exciting as the visitors, I also found the many tattoos of the baristas. Its forearm, among other things, adorns a large stove pot for making espresso – if that does not show his enthusiasm for coffee…
Warmondstraat 120
1058 KZ Amsterdam
